ROCHESTER — During its last meeting before the general election in November, Police Commission members discussed the role they provide to the community, in preparation for the ballot question on discontinuing of the commission.On Nov. 6, voters will see a ballot question asking whether they wish to eliminate all sections of the City Charter pertaining to the Police Commission, just like last year.The ballot question was brought forward this summer by the City Council. Mayor T.J. Jean previously said the Police Commission is “flawed” in the strong city manager form of government. During budget talks this year, there was also a conflict between City Council and Police Commission about salary raises that should be given to non-union police staff.The ballot question asking whether to get rid of the Police Commission has been on the ballot seven times since the commission formed in 1956, said James McManus, chairman of the commission. Each time, including last year, voters in the city voted “no” on the ballot question.When asked by McManus about his thoughts on the Police Commission, Police Chief Mike Allen said the panel gives members of the community a medium through which citizens can have direct impact on the Police Department.“I think you provide a valuable role to the citizens of the community,” Allen told Police Commission members on Wednesday.Police Deputy Chief Scott Dumas said the Police Department has the biggest ability to impact the community, and the Police Commission is “a direct conduit to the Police Department.”“The relationship here has been very strong,” he said. “In my opinion, if it’s not broke don’t fix it.”Allen added that “many of the successes that we’ve had have been directly related to work by the Rochester Police Commission members.”Police Commission Vice Chairman Al Bemis said some successes of the panel are ensuring the lobby of the police station is staffed, getting City Council approval for more cruisers in the department, and having a school resource officer available to students.Police Commission members, said Bemis, put in about 25 to 30 hours per month into their work. Many of those hours are spent conducting interviews with prospective Police Department members.“It’s very time consuming, but it’s a job that does have a lot of power,” said Bemis. “You have to have the right people to be Police Commissioners.”He noted both he and Police Commissioner David Winship have experience in law enforcement, which is an asset.Like McManus, Bemis also said he gets numerous calls from residents on a regular basis, whether it’s about police officers doing a great job, or about issues like response times. He said some residents seem more intimidated when it comes to speaking directly with members of the Police Department, and at times prefer to express their thoughts to the elected Police Commissioners.If the commission is abolished, duties performed by the three-member panel — establishing police salaries and policies, as well as hiring, firing, disciplining, and promoting officers — would fall with the city manager.The City Council’s decision for the commission elimination ballot question came amid a standstill between the council and the Police Commission over the amount of salary increases that should be awarded to non-union Police Department members. There are about eight non-union staff members at the department, and they consist of mostly command staff.As city officials prepared the budget for fiscal year 2013, which began in July, the City Council appropriated just over $12,000 in raises for non-union police staff, which would amount to about 2.5-percent salary increases, on average. The Police Commission, however, set those salaries to 3.25 percent on average, with the highest salary increase being 4 percent. With the commission’s proposal, the funds needed for the raises would amount to about $18,000.The difference between what was appropriated by the council and amount of raises proposed by the Police Commission cannot be made up through transferring from other funds in the police budget. According to Allen, when the $12,000, approximately, was appropriated for the salary increases, a condition was put into a resolution, stating additional funds cannot be transferred from other areas in the budget for additional salary increases.According to Winship, salary increases to those command staff have yet to be awarded. “The money in the budget is there, but they (councilors) are not willing to transfer the money to cover it,” said Winship. “We understand the economic times, but we also understand that these officers, some of some of them haven’t gotten raises in five years.”“It’s essentially at a standstill,” said Allen.Bemis said Wednesday the Police Commission has stayed within guidelines outlined in the City Charter and union contracts over the years.“We have done nothing to deserve what’s going through right now,” said Bemis, regarding the ballot question.Both he and Winship said the 3.25 percent increases on average, with individual raises determined by performance evaluations, are not unreasonable, especially in light of a $10,000 raise given several months ago to a newly promoted deputy city manager, Karen Pollard.